The Pull Of The Water
by Anasatsia98
Summary: "You idiot! You're not supposed to look at Medusa! Do you know how embarrassing that'd be for me to tell Chiron as the way you died?" Ever since she arrived at camp, all Lily would hear Annabeth talk about was 'The One'. Only when he arrived at camp did Lily realize how idiotic he was... and that while he tried to save the world, she had to make sure that he didn't die.
1. Prologue

When she was younger, Lily used to beg her father to tell her about her mother. She wanted to know the story of how they met, why her mother left, what her mother looked like, what her mother's name was. And every time she asked, she was met with the same answer.

"You have your mother's eyes and caring personality, Lilliana."

Lily always thought that was a shit answer.

"Do you know how many women in the world have brown eyes, dad?" Lily would exclaim as she angry tucked back a strand of her wavy, brown hair. Her once caring, dark brown eyes would be filled with fire as she glared at her father.

Patrick Miller would sigh in response and turn back to whatever email he was reading. It wasn't uncommon for Lily to think that her father loved her work more than he loved her. It was foolish though, and she knew it. Somewhere deep within her often told her that her father cared about her more than he let on, he was just scared.

It wasn't until Lily turned eight did she realize why her father always kept her at an arm's length away.

The day had started off normal. Her father walked her to school—he refused for her to walk anywhere without an adult, something that greatly annoyed Lily—and dropped her off at the front door, waiting for her to enter the building before leaving. If there was one thing Lily hated more than not knowing anything about her mother, it was going to school.

Her teacher, Mrs. Finch, had called her dad in for a meeting to tell him that she was dyslexic. Not only did she have to take special classes now, but she also had to take tests in a separate room so that she could take as much time as she needed. Lily wasn't foolish, she knew that the teachers treated her so kindly because her father was an important figure on the school board.

The school day progressed on as normal and, by the time the day had ended, a teacher—one Lily did not recognize—told her that her father was stuck in a meeting and had sent her to tell Lily that she did not need to wait for him. Of course, Lily was ecstatic. To her, this meant that her father was trusting her with the responsibilities of an adult, it meant that he trusted her.

There was a pep in her step as she walked back towards the apartment where she lived. She most certainly would not get lost, she was a big girl. However, the bright smile that never seemed to leave her face, slowly slipped as she turned the corner and bumped into a tall man. Lily stumbled over herself, almost falling, but managed to catch herself. Pushing back her dark blue headband, she peered up at the person who stopped her and furrowed her brows.

Her eyes seemed to be having trouble focusing and it was almost like she was back at school, trying to read the worksheet. Rubbing her eyes, Lily blinked before squinting, her mouth opening as a soundless scream escaped.

The man blinked his one eye at her before his mouth twisted into a cruel grin, revealing pointed teeth that were stained yellow and brown. A rancid smell passed his lips and Lily turned and ran, her backpack swinging wildly with each step she took. She could hear the monster running behind her and her heart rate doubled. There was no way she was going to be able to outrun it.

But what confused her the most were the people around her.

They acted as if nothing was wrong… as if there was no monster behind her.

"Help!" Lily screamed, twisting through the mazes of legs that seemed to block her path, "Daddy, help!"

The people looked down at her curiously, but no one bothered to help her.

Her legs were _burning_ and the pain seemed to radiate throughout her entire body. She knew she wasn't going to be able to keep running forever, in fact, she didn't think she would be able to keep him off for another few minutes. Lily took in a deep breath, her chest aching at the intake, and turned down an alleyway, pressing her back against a dumpster.

The monster's footsteps halted the moment she turned the corner and Lily held her breath, hope filling her as she thought she had finally managed to lose him.

" _ημίθεος_ ," The monster growled, and Lily stiffened against the dirty, green dumpster as a cool sweat appeared along her forehead and mixed with the sweat that was already there, " _You can't hide from me."_

Lily swallowed, her chest heaving up and down as she willed herself to stay as quiet as possible. She waited, crouched down, for the monster to leave and slowly began to count to one hundred. Once she hit the hundred, she would check to see if it was still there.

 _One_

 _Two_

 _Three_

The sun was starting to set and Lily wondered if her dad was looking for her.

 _Thirty_

 _Thirty-one_

 _Thirty-two_

She wondered if her mom would care if she died, that was if her mom even knew where she was.

 _Fifty-six_

 _Fifty-seven_

 _Fifty-eight_

The stars sure did look pretty tonight. Maybe, if she died, she would become a constellation and that way she could always make sure her dad was safe.

 _Seventy-four_

 _Seventy-five_

 _Seventy-_

A scream tore its way through Lily's throat, leaving it feeling raw and tasting metallic, as she grabbed by her hair and yanked up.

The monster seemed to have grown and Lily swung weightlessly in the air. Her scalp felt like it was on fire and her eyes burned from the tears. The monster held her in front of its eye and Lily winced when she saw the same twisted smile.

" _I found you,"_ The monster chuckled as it swung Lily closer to its face. He seemed to enjoy the fact that she no longer fought against him and his smile grew, " _Goodbye, daughter of-"_

A howling scream ripped its way out of the monster's mouth and he flung Lily to the side, her head smashing against the brick building before she dropped to the asphalt with a soft thud.

The first thing Lily noticed was that she couldn't see.

Everything was blurry and spotting, almost like mini-fireworks were shooting off in front of her.

The second thing was that there was a presence next to her.

A soft voice was murmuring quietly to her—or was it speaking loudly? Lily couldn't tell.

She felt like she was underwater as the words slurred and garbled together. She felt the person press something against her head and call out to someone. Who it was, Lily didn't know. Blinking slowly, her eyelids feeling unnaturally heavy, Lily nodded her head at whatever the person was saying.

If you were to ask about what happened next, Lily wouldn't be able to answer.

To this day, she has no recollection of the events that followed. The only thing that she remembers is waking up with a bandage wrapped around her head and icepack on her forehead.

Blinking, Lily slowly shuffled up and looked around, the adrenaline still coursing through her body and blocking out a majority of the pain. Bright embers blinded Lily for a moment, causing her to close her eyes, before she blinked and opened them again, making sure not to stare in front of her.

"You're awake." Lily jumped at the soft, male voice that carried an unnatural amount of tenderness. Turning her head to her left, she blinked as dark blue eyes met her dark brown ones, "We didn't think you were gonna make it."

 _We_.

Lily leaned forward a little, her eyes searching for the second person, the one who helped. The boy seemed to notice what she was doing and he jerked his head to the left.

"Thalia's asleep," He said before holding out his hand, "I'm Luke."

Lily stared at the hand cautiously, not sure what would happen if she touched it as the events of today replayed through her mind.

"We're not going to hurt you if that's what you're wondering." Luke said, sensing the overflowing amount of emotions inside the girl, "We're just like you."

"Just… like me?" Lily repeated, her head tilting to the side, and Luke noticed the splash of freckles across her nose. His heart dropped at her words… she didn't know.

"A demigod," Luke explained and he dropped his hand so that it was resting in his lap, "It's when you have a mortal parent, but a mother or father who is of Olympus. That thing that was chasing you—the Cyclops—it's one of the monsters that kills people like us."

Lily gasped, her eyes wide with fear at Luke's words, "You mean, there are more of them?"

"Of course," Luke nodded, the embers illuminating his eyes and causing them to look darker… almost black, "There are thousands, I bet."

"How are we supposed to be safe?" Lily asked as her hand clenched into a fist, and it was then that Luke noticed the small Daffodil beneath her twist unnaturally.

"There's a camp for people like us. It'll keep us safe and protected from the monsters." Luke said, his eyes flickering from Lily to the flower beneath her hand. He watched in awe as she relaxed her hand and the flower uncoiled itself, looking as though nothing had happened.

Lily chewed nervously on her lip. Her father had always told her not to talk to strangers, but if these people could help her, maybe they weren't strangers after all. Her heart stopped at the thought, _her father._

"I need to get home!" Lily exclaimed, jumping to her feet before her body swayed as her world went spinning. Dropping to the ground, Lily placed her head in her hands and focused on the flower in front of her before continuing, "My dad's gonna be worried."

"You can't go back," Luke said, blankly, and Lily looked at him in horror.

"Why… why not?"

"Because the monsters will follow you, and if they get you, they'll get your dad too."

Lily's heart dropped to her stomach and her vision blurred as tears flooded her eyes. She wanted to fight against him, but he was right. She couldn't let this happen to her dad. He wouldn't be able to stop the monsters, especially if there were more dangerous ones. Luke didn't bother to say anything as Lily's brain tried to comprehend everything that happened. It was an hour later before she finally spoke again.

"I'm Lilliana Miller."

"It's nice to meet you, Lilliana." Luke smiled at her, wanting her to feel as safe and as comfortable as possible. Lily, however, nodded stiffly as she stared into the dying embers.

"You can call me Lily."


	2. Chapter One

For a daughter of Athena, Annabeth could act questionably stupid.

"But he has to be the one." Annabeth moaned as she sat next to Lily, who looked up at her with a bored expression. Wiping the extra ambrosia on the rim of the cup Will had given her, Lily leaned forward and gently prodded the spoon between the boy's lips, trying to get some of the ambrosia in his mouth, "He killed Minotaur, Lils, how can he not be?"

"Yeah, but he also lost his mom. You heard him crying her name before he collapsed on the porch." Lily said as she twisted the spoon to try and stop the falling ambrosia from hitting his chin.

A sigh left Annabeth's lips as she rested her head on her fist, staring at the sleeping boy, and Lily looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The glow of the light around them almost made Annabeth appear angelic. The sun bounced off her hair and caused it to shimmer like a golden waterfall and her grey eyes, which reminded Lily of an oncoming storm, twinkled and Lily could practically see the wheels churning in Annabeth's brain.

"Do you think he's gonna wake up?" Annabeth asked, curiously staring at the boy's hand and watching for any sign of movement.

"Don't know," Lily shrugged before feeding him another small scoop, "He's opened his eyes every now and again, but hasn't stayed again."

Annabeth let out another sigh, causing Lily to give her head a slight shake before she wiped off any remnants that had made it onto his chin.

Glancing at his face, Lily couldn't deny that he was attractive… not that she'd ever say that out loud. His skin was a soft, light brown—tan at the most—and he had jet black hair that was currently flying in every direction. His nose was narrow and his eyes, well, from the times he had them open, were green.

Lily couldn't help but flinch back when her dark brown eyes clashed with sea-green eyes. He blinked, tiredly and confusedly, and it was clear by that his vision was not in focus. Annabeth wasted no time in asking the question she had been dying to ask and leaned forward.

"What will happen at the summer solstice?"

The boy looked at them, looking years older than he was. Dark bags hung underneath his eyes with eye boogies in the corners.

"What?" He croaked out, his eyes flickering from hers to Annabeth's grey ones.

"Annie, give him a break-" Lily started, but was cut off when Annabeth quickly looked around the room, making sure that Mr. D and Chiron weren't approaching.

"What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"Annie-" Lily tried to start again, but this time it was the boy who cut her off.

"I'm sorry," The boy mumbled, his head lulling to the side, and Lily knew it was only minutes before the boy fell back into a deep sleep, "I don't…"

The knock on the door was enough to startle Annabeth into taking the spoon out of Lily's hand and shoving it back into the boy's mouth. The boy barely had a chance to swallow before he was back asleep and Lily was quick to wipe the access from his mouth. The door opened a second later and Chiron smiled at them, his shoulder-length brown hair swinging with each step.

"Lilliana, Annabeth," Chiron greeted, his hooves clopping nosily against the wooden floor and Lily feared that it would wake the boy. Lily watched as Chiron looked at the boy, his light brown eyes filling with sympathy and sorrow, "Has there been any improvement?"

Annabeth opened her mouth to speak but Lily beat her to it.

Annabeth was a horrible liar.

"Only for a moment, Chiron. He didn't say much though, basically nothing."

Chiron seemed to ponder over her words and Lily dreaded that he had seen through her lie. With a nod, Chiron dismissed the two and they were quick to leave the Infirmary. The sun was close to setting, and there was no doubt in Lily's mind that it was close to dinner. Her cabin would be expecting her to be there before they ate. It was a weird rule that Katie had made, she wanted them all to eat together so that they'd feel more like a family or something.

Lily thought it was stupid but never bothered to argue. It made Katie and a lot of her younger siblings happy.

Quickly saying goodbye to Annabeth, Lily jogged to her cabin and knocked on the door, smiling when her younger sibling answered it. Together, the cabin headed to the tables, Lily being the second in line for she had been the longest coming camper in her cabin. Katie only stood before her because she was the cabin leader.

Dropping a multigrain roll and two cobs of corn into the fire, Lily muttered a quick prayer to her mother before sitting back down at her table. If Annabeth was right about the boy, then she was going to pray as much as she could.

There was a storm brewing, and Lily wasn't the only one who could feel it.

~8~

The next time Lily saw the boy, whom she learned was named Percy, he was walking towards her. Lily stifled a giggle as she noted that the look of confusion seemed to never have left his face. The look of confusion, however, melted away once Percy saw Chiron, and relief flooded his face.

"Mr. Brunner!" Percy cried, rushing towards Chiron, and Lily tilted her head. The flower crown in her hand was almost finished and she lazily reached her hand through the porch railing, plucking a purple flower off a stem that seemed to grow three feet to reach her hand.

Bellflowers always seemed ready to heed her commands.

"Annabeth, Lilliana?" Chiron called and Lily looked up from the crown, tying the last know effortlessly as Annabeth slid off the porch rail. Lily observed Percy's face as he finally seemed to realize he was going to meet the 'mysterious-people-who-hassled-him-while-he-was-barely-conscious'. "These young ladies nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, Lilliana, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."

"Oof," Lily muttered under her breath as she inwardly winced. She knew that it was mandatory for unclaimed campers to stay in cabin eleven, but the last time she was in there, she could barely walk across the floor without stepping on someone's sleeping bag.

"Sure, Chiron," Annabeth said, both of them ignoring Lily's comment while Percy looked at her in fear. Whoops, maybe she didn't speak as quietly as she thought she did.

Lily knew that Percy had been analyzing the two of them since the moment he saw them. She also knew that looking at the two of them was like looking at Ying and Yang. Annabeth: tall, blonde, tan, grey-eyed; Lily: short, pale, dark-haired, brown-eyed. If he thought the two of them were related, then the kid needed some serious help.

"You drool when you sleep," Annabeth said after a few moments of silence before sprinting down the lawn, and Lily's lips quirked at the comment. She _knew_ Annabeth had been jealous, Annabeth just wouldn't admit it.

Lily grinned at him, her once dark eyes looking the amber. Percy wasn't sure if he liked that grin.

"She's not wrong," Lily giggled before turning and racing after her close friend. The breeze ticked her face as her hair flew wildly behind her. Glancing behind her, her eyes widened at the small trial of buttercups she had left behind and she frowned. She thought she had been getting better at controlling her emotions…

"I knew it!" Lily exclaimed, causing Annabeth to whip around and look at her, Luke following. Inwardly, Lily winced, knowing that Annabeth was going to get her for interrupting her conversation with Luke.

"What?" Annabeth asked, crossing her eyebrows and raising her eyebrow.

"You are totally jealous of Percy," Lily grinned, not noticing Luke and Annabeth's eyes flicker to the ground at her feet.

"No, I'm not," Annabeth denied, shaking her head before pointing to the ground, "And you might want to calm down a little."

The smile slipped off Lily's face she looked down and saw multiple bellflowers, daisies, and daffodils surrounding her feet. It would have looked normal, if the flowers hadn't made a perfect circle around her. Pouting, Lily stepped outside the circle before the smile illuminated her face once again.

"' _You drool in your sleep_ '?" Lily teased and Annabeth's eyes darkened. "Puh-lease, if Luk-"

"I'm gonna head in," Luke interrupted, smiling softly at the two girls in front of him. He had known them since they were kids and they never failed to amuse him. Annabeth's stubbornness and Lily's instigating ways always seemed to clash one way or another. But, through it all, the two had managed to remain close friends—even considering each other sisters.

"Bye!"

"See ya later," Both girls said, and Luke gave a lazily salute before closing the door. The moment the door closed, Lily knew she was screwed. Annabeth's glared down at Lily, her eyes hard and the grey color almost looking black.

"I don't know why I bother being your friend," Annabeth hissed and Lily rolled her eyes at her friend's theatrics.

"You don't exactly make it a secret, Annie." Lily crossed her arms, "I can practically see the hearts forming in your eyes every time you look at him. It's a little gross, don't you think? He's seven years older than you."

"And my mom was thousands of years older than my dad," Annabeth shot back.

"Yeah, it's gross when you think about it." Lily deadpanned, looking behind her to see Chiron walking down the hill with Percy, "Make sure you're a nice tour guide."

"What?" Annabeth gaped at her as Lily began walking towards her cabin, "You're supposed to be helping me."

"I forgot I promise Mindy that I'd help her with her Greek at one," Lily called back, not bothering to look behind her.

"It's eleven thirty!"

"Guess I'm gonna be early."


	3. Chapter Two

An exasperated huff left Lily's lips as she jogged down the trail that led to the canoeing lake. She had left Annabeth alone for one hour, and the new kid blows the pipes in the bathroom. The _girl's_ bathroom. Now Lily was going to have to hike to the other side of camp until they managed to fix that, and that was a lot of effort she just wasn't willing to put out.

For the first ten minutes Lily spent searching for Annabeth and Percy, she had no idea where to start. Obviously, they had passed the bathroom, but where did they go next? It didn't take long in the end; all Lily had to do was follow the trail of the whispering and murmuring campers, and then follow their gaze.

Annabeth barely spared her a glance as she made her way towards them while Percy stared at her for—what she felt was—a second too long. A dead bush was what stopped Lily from finally meeting them, a frown crossing her face as she knelt down and touched the broken branches. It felt like a tickle—a feather brushing against the tips of her fingers—and a warm feeling, like the one you get after drinking hot cocoa or a cup of tea on a cold day, spreading down her arm.

"There you go," Lily murmured, a smile replacing the frown as the bush repaired itself and blossomed to its full potential, little white flowers popping up like the freckles that scattered her nose and cheekbones.

Standing up, and brushing off the dirt that had stuck to her knees, Lily continued her trek to Percy and Annabeth, entering in the midst of their conversation. Lily knew that Percy had already screwed up by the way Annabeth's fist had turned white as it clenched the wooden rail and by the way her tone bitter sting.

"He's human," Percy stated and Lily was quick to connect the dots. Oh, yeah. Percy definitely screwed up. She didn't blame him, though. He didn't know that Annabeth had a strained relationship with her father and, based on the way he was calling for his mom, he wasn't in the same boat as her.

"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive?" Annabeth raised her eyebrow at him and Lily couldn't help but laugh, "How sexist is that?"

"Who's your mom, then?" Percy asked, challenging her by raising his eyebrow back.

"Cabin six."

"Annie," Lily interrupted, stopping Percy in his tracks and causing Annabeth to look at her, "Give him a break. I doubt he knows all the Greek Gods, let alone whose cabin is whose."

Ignoring Percy's indignant cry of 'hey!", Annabeth shrugged in agreement before straightening her shoulders and looking back at Percy. Pride burned in Annabeth's eyes and Lily smiled, who wouldn't be proud to have Athena as their mother?

"Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle." Annabeth said, and Lily watched as Percy mulled over her words. It was obvious that Annabeth was the daughter of Athena, and you didn't need to know her cabin to know that. Her eyes always held a calculating look to them, like she was figuring out your each and every weakness. Plus, she always had a book in her hand or nearby.

"And my dad?" Percy pressed, hope filling his voice.

"Undetermined." Annabeth said.

"Unless your mother was told, nobody knows who your father is, Percy." Lily added when she saw the crestfallen look on Percy's face, "And even then, she might not have known which God he was. They don't often reveal their identities to mortals."

"No, my mother knew. My dad would've told her. He loved her," Percy denied, shaking his head and Annabeth and Lily shared a look.

If he was the one, it would make sense both ways. His father could've told his mother who he was so that she would've known how to protect him. On the other hand, he may not have told her because he didn't want to bring danger towards her. Sometimes being ignorant was the best way to survive.

"Maybe you're right." Annabeth shrugged, "Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sigh claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."

"You mean sometimes it doesn't?" Percy asked, his brows furrowing in confusion. It was almost as if he couldn't fathom the idea of the gods not recognizing their children.

"The gods are busy." Annabeth sighed, tapping her fingers against the rail, "They have a lot of kids and they don't always… well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."

"That's why cabin eleven is so full. It's where all the undetermined campers go." Lily added, hoping that it'd clear up why Percy had to sleep on the floor and why the cabin was basically overflowing with kids.

"What about you? Who's your parent?" Percy questioned, looking Lily in the eyes, and she smiled at him.

"Demeter, or cabin four. It's hard to miss cause it's covered in plants and stuff. But, my mother is, mainly, the goddess of agriculture and fertility." Lily said and Percy looked at her as if everything had seen had suddenly made sense. Lily raised her eyebrows at him, she had told him her parent's name, not solved his life problems, "What?"

"I knew I wasn't crazy when I saw the trail of flowers magically appear behind you."

Immediately, Lily felt her cheeks burn red and she bashfully tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her hair barely brushing her shoulders.

Lily laughed nervously, "Yeah, I'm trying to work on that."

Percy nodded, the calm look in his disappearing as his mind whirled around with the information he had just learned. His forehead wrinkling as he put the pieces together.

"So I'm stuck here," He said, looking at them in alarm, "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," Annabeth said, leaning her head on her hand, "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite of Demeter—"

"I'm an exception, unfortunately," Lily interjected and Annabeth rolled her eyes before continuing, ignoring Percy's look of utter confusion.

"You're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by within a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the name, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."

"So monsters can't get in here?" Percy summarized and Lily nodded.

"Yeah. Unless they're placed in the woods or someone from the inside summons them, they can't come in. It's part of the reason why campers feel so safe when they cross through the barrier, it's basically a wall of power that protects us, a security blanket." Lily explained and Percy slowly nodded at her.

"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?" Percy asked, his expression stuck between one of horror, confusion, and fear.

"Practice fight. Practical jokes." Annabeth stated.

"Practical jokes?"

"The point is," Annabeth said, brushing off Percy's question, "The borders are sealed to keep mortal and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry jam farm."

"I voted for marmalade, but Chiron said that more people preferred strawberry," Lily muttered and Percy looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"So… you're a year rounded."

"Yep," Lily said as she and Annabeth pulled out their beaded necklaces. Even though they both came to the camp at the same time, Annabeth's necklace held one more bead than Lily's. While Annabeth and Percy talked, Lily twisted the beads, the cool clay causing a feeling of comfort to run through her veins.

The first bead was painted black and held a painting of Thalia's green tree. Sometimes, when Lily caught her reflection or saw the dash of green, her stomach would drop and her heart would ache as her mind flashed to the events that occurred four years ago. You would think that four years would be enough to get over a death, but some days, it felt like only a week had passed.

The second bead held a centaur in a prom dress while the third was a Greek trireme on fire. The fourth one was her favorite and final one. The golden color painted on the bead often flickered in the light of the sun and the purple bellflower painted on it represented… well, let's just say that Lily's team had won capture the flag that year.

"I've got to get on a quest," Lily snapped out of her thoughts at Annabeth's words and she stared at her friend suspiciously, "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem…"

The grumble of a stomach managed to draw Annabeth from her thoughts and both girls looked at the blushing boy who anxiously ran his hand through his hair. Lily couldn't help but laugh as Annabeth told Percy that she'd—or they, depending on what time it was—would catch him later.

Once Percy was far enough, Lily turned to Annabeth, tucking her necklace so that it was back underneath her orange shirt, and watching as Annabeth's brows furrowed in thought.

"You know, you're going to get wrinkles if you keep doing that," Lily teased, and Annabeth rolled her eyes but relaxed her face.

"People are going to think you're the daughter of Aphrodite if you keep concerning yourself with appearances," Annabeth shot back and Lily snickered at the thought of her being part of cabin ten.

"Please, Drew would maim me before I could step foot in that cabin."

Annabeth laughed, "Maybe if you didn't tangle her up in a vine, she wouldn't hate you so much."

"She shouldn't have annoyed me," Lily shrugged, the two of them falling into a comfortable silence as they stared out into the water. The camp was quieter than normal and Lily guessed that it was because it was only the start of summer. Still, the relaxed aura of the camp comforted her… it made her feel like everything was okay.

"So," Lily drawled, causing Annabeth to look at her, "Do you think he's the one."

Annabeth replied almost instantly, "He has to be. You heard what he did, and I saw it with my own eyes. None of the water touched him, not a single drop."

"Than that means the prophecy…"

"Yeah," Annabeth concluded, her voice dry, "Yeah, it does."

Looking at the sky, and finally smelling the barbeque, Lily pushed herself off the rail and made her way back towards her cabin. She didn't need to say goodbye to Annabeth, it wasn't smart to interrupt her when she was thinking, and she needed to get back to her cabin before dinner was called or Katie was going to have a fit.

~8~

"But I want to sit next to Lily," Emilie, the youngest kid in Demeter's cabin, moped as she lazily sloshed her drink in her cup. Emmeline's light blonde hair—that ironically looked like the hair that was found in corn—shimmered in the firelight.

"You are sitting next to me," Lily pointed out to the ten-year-old, before muttering 'lemon seltzer' to her cup and watching as the sparkling liquid magically filled it.

"I'm sitting _across_ from you," Emilie sassed and Lily scoffed as the rest of the table chuckled. Lily and her siblings didn't look that much alike compared to the children of Ares, Athena, or Apollo. The only trait that was shared between Demeter's children were her brown eyes, that was the only thing.

Lily opened her mouth to respond but was silenced by Chiron pounding his hoofs against the pavilion's marble floors. Sometimes, Lily wondered what would happen if the marble cracked. Grabbing the golden goblet, he raised it.

"To the gods!"

Lily, along with the rest of the campers followed, "To the gods!"

Wood nymph followed after the toast, their hair flowing behind them as if carried by a constant, gentle wind, and placed down golden platters of food. Lily immediately reached for the whole wheat rolls and placed a slab of butter over the three she grabbed. Once satisfied with her offering, Lily stood up and made her way towards the bonfire, pretending not to notice that Emilie jumped to follow her. Bowing her head, she tilted her plate and watched as the rolls fell into the fire.

"Demeter," Lily muttered. _Mother._

 _Mother, please._

The meal passed by rather quickly. Emilie was begging to hear more about the new kid and how he flushed Clarisse with toilet water but was not disappointed when Lily told her that she wasn't there at that time. Instead, Emilie looked up at her with her doe-like, brown eyes as she feverishly chewed her salad and clung onto every word Lily said.

Once the meal was over, Chiron struck his hooves down once more, capturing the attention of the campers and effectively shutting them up. Lily watched as Mr. D heaved a sigh as if his life was so taxing—which it probably was, Lily just didn't care—and stood up.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

Lily laughed silently as Clarisse and the rest of her cabin pounded and hollered from their table. Her dad almost named her Laurel and it probably would have made her ridiculous name less ridiculous than it already was. But then again, they used laurels as prizes…

Lily decided that she rather liked her name at the current moment.

"Personally, I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson." Mr. D paused and Chiron murmured something.

"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D. corrected, "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

With a cheer, Lily lifted herself from her seat and began to make her way to the amphitheater, Emilie coming to her one side with Annabeth and Luke to her other. Lily's brow crinkled when she saw Percy hesitate to where he should go, but she waved him over to join them and relief flooded his face.

The light from the campfire flickered in the darkness, illuminating each camper's face. Lily could see the joy sparkling in everyone's eyes, mixed with loneliness, fear, anxiety. But that was normal because you could never truly relax as a demigod. Cautiously, Lily snuck a look at Percy. She didn't want people to think she was oogling—because she was _way_ better than that—or freak Percy out.

His sea-green eyes looked darker, almost a burning emerald color, and his black hair almost disappeared into the night if it weren't for the torches that lit the path and the stars that twinkled in the sky. Overall, he looked happy. He was laughing and singing along with the camper and conversing with Luke every so often. He looked as if… he was at home. Lily blinked out of her daze when his sea-green eyes connected with her coffee-colored ones, before giving him a bright smile and feeling giddy inside when he smiled back—but it was only because he smiled back! There was no other reason other than she was glad that he was happy here.


	4. Chapter Three

Much to Lily's disappointment, that was the last time she ever saw Percy.

Nah, she was kidding, but it was the last time she was able to have a conversation with him. Chiron had chosen as many activites as he could to fill up Percy's schedule, besides studying Ancient Greek with Annabeth, that is. Wrestling, archery, foot-racing, canoeing, etc. and Lily knew that it was because Chiron wanted to get take the attention off Percy. She knew that ever since the bathroom accident, he was cautious of who Percy's parent might be and that the new-found attention he was getting was not _good_ —if you got what she was saying.

It was only after Luke started teaching Percy how to swordfight that Lily found time to actually see Percy. They were only brief glances, however. Most times, she would be making her way towards the woods or the strawberry fields—because where else would the daughter of Demeter go—and she would hear the clang of swords, and (ignoring her racing heart, something she had yet to understand) looked up, hoping to see an unruly mop of ebony hair. Since Luke was teaching Percy defensive fighting, with a dash of offensive here and there, she would generally see Luke's sandy hair and drenched shirt, causing her to wrinkle her nose in disgust.

By the time capture the flag rolled around, Lily was a jittery ball of nerves who kept getting glares from her siblings' every time her knee accidentally knocked the table.

"Sorry," Lily muttered half-heartedly, for what felt like fifteenth time, awkwardly stabbing her salad with her fork.

Her siblings only rolled their eyes or muttered under their breath before continuing to eat their dinner. No one bothered to comment on Lily's anxiety; capture the flag was a big deal for her.

During capture the flag, there were no limits on what you were allowed to do. The only rule was that you weren't allowed to kill or maim another camper. So, if you were a child who had stronger 'powers', you were allowed to use them to their full extent. Something that Lily had only recently discovered and something that the Aries and Athena cabin was quick to fight over. No matter which team her cabin was put on, she constantly remained as a defender, her vines trapping anyone who stepped to close to the flag.

As soon as the plates cleared and the conch horn sounded, the tables emptied as everyone ran to grab their team flag or to gather into teams. It was easy to block out all the screams and shouts that were coming from around her. After all, she had learned how to ignore Clarisse.

"Damn," Lily muttered when her chocolate brown eyes landed on a mop of unruly hair. She had been dying to see Percy's skills the moment Mindy had run in shouting that he had beaten Luke. It was too bad that he was on the other team, though. Maybe she could try and convince Clarisse to let her play offense this game.

With two rough stamps of his hoof, Chiron had silenced the two opposing teams.

"Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game," Lily's eyes caught Percy's as they flickered to her and she smirked at him, internally laughing when his eyes widened before turning his attention back to Chiron, "All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoner may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as the referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

Lily didn't waste a second to grab the small breastplate and arm guards that laid on the table in front of her, among the copious amounts of armor. She had gotten rather cocky in when it came to arming herself, knowing that she could take anyone down with the flick of her wrist. It wasn't long before the conch horn sounded again and Clarisse ordered everyone to 'march forward'.

With a few slips in between younger campers and sharp glares towards older ones, Lily quickly made her way up to the front and stood next to Clarisse, trying to ignore the pungent smell that was wafting off her. Lily wanted to gag and guessed that the last time she took a shower was when Percy hosed her down.

"Hey, um, Clarisse?" Lily began and ignored the sharpness of Clarisse's 'what?', "I was wondering if I could be offense tonight? Because, ya know, I can do—"

"Sure, whatever." Clarisse snapped and Lily blanked for a moment, not comprehending that Clarisse had actually agreed to her offer, "Tangle that Jackson kid in some vines so he can't get away."

Lily blinked.

 _No, that wasn't her plan actually._

"Sure," Lily nodded, smiling brightly to make it seem more realistic. Clarisse must've found her irrelevant because the next thing she knew; she had been pushed back into the group.

Once the flag was in position and the game actually started, Lily wasn't sure what to do. For the past four years, she either climbed up a tree and trapped unsuspecting victims in vines and flowers or just sat next to the flag, doing the same thing. Now that she wasn't guarding a flag, she didn't know where to start. Standing idly in the middle of a field, twirling a loose strand of hair, Lily decided that the best way to find Percy was to head towards the creek.

It was basically a stroll in the park, or it was until a golden arrowed planted itself in the tree in front of Lily with enough force to crack the bark. Whipping around, Lily clenched her hands as she stared at the older Apollo girl.

"Jenny."

"Lily," The two girls greeted one another, both eying each other warily. While Lily's eyes were fixated on the bow and the arrow that was currently notched, Jenny was staring at Lily's hands.

"You sure you wanna… fight?" Lily shrugged awkwardly, "I could just tell you where the flag is."

"Don't play games with me," Jenny snapped, pulling her arm back farther.

"Well, this is a game," Lily tried to joke and winced when Jenny glared at her, dropping two fingers off the bow and pulling her shoulders back a little more. Lily sighed, realizing that Jenny wasn't going to let her off and grumbled.

"Fine," She muttered and flicked her wrist up while curving her other hand so that it looked like it was doing a slanted karate-chop. The familiar tingling in her fingers strengthened as a large root coiled itself around Jenny's feet, effectively trapping her, while twelve bellflower plants wrapped themselves tightly around her body.

It was quicker than what Lily had originally expected. Most campers put up a good fight for at least fifteen to forty-five minutes, but Lily often forgot that the newer campers tended to go after her first. They were called a 'distraction' for Lily because both teams knew that she could take them down if she really wanted to.

In fact, Lily could be her own team if she wanted. She wouldn't need anyone to count on and nobody could screw her over… she could beat them all. Lily gently shook her head, blinking harshly as she tried to clear her mind.

"They should let go in about fifteen minutes," Lily said, turning and running down a trail that she knew led to the creek, ignoring Jenny's shouts of frustration from behind her. There was no way she could relax now, not when she knew that the other team was _actually_ going to try and attack her.

By the time Lily stumbled to the creek, she was a panting mess and ducking behind the tall grass. It was only when she took note of the red drops staining the rocks and pebbles around her, she looked up. To be frank, Percy was a mess. A very bloody, struggling mess.

His hair was standing straight up—and Lily automatically knew that he had been hit by Clarisse's spear, blood was pouring out of a cut on his arm, and he kept stumbling over his own feet as two of the three Aries campers cornered him. But, Lily was surprised that he had managed to hold them off for that long and, looking at the crumpled body on the ground, disable one of them.

A soft, sharp gasp Lily's lips when she noticed that the third kid was creeping behind Percy. Still, in the cover of the brush, she reached her left hand forward, palm up, and slowly lifted it. Nobody but herself seemed to notice the little, mossy vines that began to grow off the algae from the rocks. Twisting her hand clockwise, she forced the vines to wrap themselves around the third person and yank him back, trapping him against the rocks.

"Lilliana!" Clarisse howled as she caught sight of her impaired player, "What are you doing?"

Lily didn't bother to respond. Instead, she lifted her hand once more and rubbed her fingers softly together, giggling as the second camper slipped on a large patch of algae. A sudden sharp crack drew her attention away from the Aries kid and her jaw dropped as the head of Clarisse's spear clattered against the ground, her screams stopping as Percy smacked her with the hilt of his sword between her eyes. Lily could've cared less about the cheers and screams that suddenly surrounded her, her eyes zeroing in on where Percy once had a cut.

But it was gone.

* * *

 **SUH-PRISE!**

 **Sorry for the hiatus, I hit a writer's block and wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Anyway, I think that I will be editing the chapters that have been posted over the next few weeks and then get back to posting regularly. And yes, I know this chapter isn't stellar, but I wanted to give you guys something.**

 **Thank you so much for the reviews and for sticking with me!**

 **Also, thank you for following/favoriting this story!**

 **Ana**


	5. Chapter Four

There wasn't much in her life that could surprise her anymore.

Nobody could sneak up on her, the ADHD constantly keeping her alert even when she wasn't aware, and the monsters that had tried to attack her had taken place of the childhood boogeyman in the basement and the 'monsters' under her bed that kept her up. No, nothing really shocked her anymore. If she were being honest, Lily had felt like she had seen a majority of oddities in her life that canceled out the 'surprises'. Cyclopes, Minotaur's, and the whole shebang wasn't as astounding as it used to be. Kids came to Will with flesh burnt to the bone, scraps and gashes that showed the muscle underneath or had soft white peeking out, or with bone just jarring from their flesh.

Now, _that_ disgusted her, but it didn't freak her out to see kids running to get ambrosia or nectar to heal themselves with such wounds.

If she were being bold, Lily would say that she sometimes felt as though she were fearless. With a life that no longer held disbeliefs, how could she not be 'bored' and 'prepared' for anything and everything.

 _Shit._

The constant and continuous thought reverberated through Lily's mind. She easily ignored the cries and cheers from Athena's team, blocking out Annabeth's and Percy's argument—the two never seemed to stop, she noted—as she walked towards the creek that Percy stood in. She knew that it was completely and entirely possible, but, if what she was thinking was correct (and she prayed to the Gods that it wasn't), Annabeth may have been right. Lily reached down and placed her pale hand in the water, see if maybe—just maybe—the water had magic powers. It was a stupid wish but, when you were a half-blood, sometimes the stupidest wishes came true. Drawing her hand out and seeing if the multiple cuts on her hand, which were from the thorns of the roses that grew on the side of her cabin, had scared up or vanished.

Neither happened and Lily's thoughts were confirmed.

"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it," She heard Annabeth say, before finally getting up and inserting herself in the conversation. Pulling off the helmet and tucking it under her right arm, Lily pushed the sweaty, matted hair from the sides of her face and watched as Percy glanced at his arm, confusion and shock creeping on his face.

"I-I don't get it," He breathed, and Lily looked to Annabeth. Her face was twisted with thought as she stared at Percy, her middle finger scratching harshly against her thumb. Lily didn't need to say anything, nor did she want to say anything. If she said, then it would be true and she'd have to deal with the consequences that would follow. If she stayed quiet then maybe she could continue her simple, minimalistic life at camp.

"Step out of the water, Percy," Annabeth's slightly alto voice broke through the silence.

"What-"

"Just do it," Annabeth quickly silenced the protest that slipped out of Percy's mouth. Percy looked over to Lily, almost as though he was making sure that Annabeth wouldn't stab him if he stepped out. Lily shrugged, tilting her head a bit, a smile pulling the corners of her lips as he shot her a glare.

Lily's eyes trailed after him as he stepped out of the creek, rapidly flickering from the wound on his arm, to his face, and finally to his posture. If he was the child of… _that God_ , then the moment he stepped out of the creek he would lose any strength he had gained. Lily saw it before anyone else did and, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to rush over to him and steady him. Instead, if on instinct, her arm jerked up, her palm facing upwards, and a Bellflowers immediately wrapped themselves around Percy's left arm as Annabeth steadied him from the other side.

"Oh, Styx," Annabeth cursed, and Lily rapidly nodded in agreement, "This is not good. I didn't want—" Lily swore her neck cracked at the speed she whipped her head to look at the blonde, an expression of 'are-you-kidding-me' covering her face, and Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I assumed it would be Zeus…"

Lily scoffed, "It's ridiculous to think it would be Zeus. You know how rare _that_ would be?"

"Not any rarer than this," Annabeth stressed, her hand briefly motioning to Percy, who only blinked in bewilderment as his eyes remained covered in a glassy glaze of both pain and exhaustion.

Lily swore her eyes rolled to the back of her head at Annabeth's words; yes, she may have a point but she couldn't have believed that Zeus was the only one sleeping around. Even _she_ thought that it was ridiculous! Opening her mouth to retort, Lily froze. Her skin crawled, the feeling as though a jar of spiders had been poured on her, as a low growl echoed through the woods. The helmet that rested under her arm fell as she anxiously spread her arms out, almost like she was trying to steady her balance, while the other campers drew their swords and Percy stood—quite idiotically.

"σταθείτε έτοιμοι! Το τόξο μου!"

Lily cursed, her eyes catching the monster that stood on the cliff above them. Of course, how horrible would it be if a child of one of the big three had an easy life? From where she stood, Lily could tell that it was focused on Percy (big surprise there) and her brows furrowed as she slowly curled her fingers in. If she could just somehow magically grow a tree to push the Hellhound off the cliff, she could keep Percy safe. But that was asking a lot, especially coming from her—a girl who had just started to learn how to control roots.

"Percy, run!" Annabeth broke the uneasy silence, and Lily felt herself moving. While Annabeth had tried to step in front of Percy, Lily noticed that she had thrusted herself forward, her arms out as if she were pushing him, and watched Percy stumble back as the hellhound swiped at him.

It was always the aftershock she felt. After everything she had learned, everything she had experienced, it was the aftershock that always got her. The adrenaline would slowly seep from her body, her brain realizing that the threat had vanished or had been killed, and Lily would feel the pounding headache that often accompanied her when she was exhausted while her body would begin to shut down.

Now was no different.

Her head pulsed with skull-splitting ache, feeling as though Hephaestus was continuously thwacking her head with his mallet, and she began to notice how heavy her arms felt. The tingling feeling reverberated through her body—the kind you get in your foot when you've been sitting down for too long—and she muffled a groan, she hated that feeling. Squeezing her eyes shut, Lily pressed the palm of her right hand to her head and tried to will the headache to fade .Now wasn't a time for weakness, she had to make sure that everyone was okay.

"Lils," She heard Annabeth murmur, feeling an unknown hand grasp her limp arm tightly,  
"Did you over do it again?"

"I don't even know what I did," Lily groaned, squeezing her eyes one last time before opening them and blinking the black spots from her vision. It was the truth. Exhaustion had hit her the moment she saw Chiron's arrow embed itself in the Hellhounds back, not even giving her a moment to prepare.

"I think…" Annabeth tilted her head as she looked in front of them, "You made a flower patch?"

"A what?" Lily questioned, her brows furrowing as she, too, looked in front of her. Confusion flooded her mind as she stared at the odd shield in front of her. Tall strands of grass and wheat had weaved themselves together in an intricate design as hundreds of minuscule flowers littered the goldenly-green shield thing. It came up to her chest and, before she could stop herself, Lily pressed her hand against it. It was firmer than she thought, almost feeling as though it were bark instead of wheat and grass.

"Yeah, I don't know that is," Lily spun away from the weird shield and pointed to the limp, black hellhound, "But I do know what that is."

"That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They're don't… they're not supposed to…" Annabeth said, her brows furrowed as she glanced between the hellhound and Percy's soaked body. _Percy!_ Lily remembered, her eyes widening as she turned to check on the teen who sat near the water and rested on a bed of moss.

No wonder she felt so exhausted, she _had_ pushed herself too far.

Relief flooded her body when she noticed that he was okay… well, okay as he was going to be at the current moment; but, the prior incident didn't stop the small smirk from creeping on her lips.

"Oh, the Fields of Punishment, you say? What have you _done_ , Percy?" She teased, a short laugh leaving her as Percy's face flushed a soft pink.

"Lilliana, now is not the time," Chiron reprimanded, and she felt a similar blush cover on her cheeks as the campers attention rested on her. Nodding, Lily slipped closer towards Annabeth and remained silent as Chiron stared at the hellhound. His eyes were hard and unforgiving as he thought, "Someone summoned it. Someone inside the camp."

"Wow," Lily blew out a breath, "Poor Percy hasn't even been here a full summer and somebody already wants him dead."

"You weren't even here and somebody wanted you dead," She heard Luke state, and turned to look over her shoulder as he walked towards her and Annabeth, before stopping behind them.

Lily shrugged, looking back to Percy and noticing his slightly fearful gaze, "Touché."

"It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!" Clarisse's unnaturally high voice rang from the crowd and Lily let out a scoff.

"Of course, he's been here a month or so and he already has mastered how to summon a hellhound. Give me a break, the dude didn't know the difference between ambrosia and nectar a week ago," Lily muttered, quiet enough that Chiron couldn't hear her but loud enough to evoke a few muffled giggles out of Annabeth.

"Be quiet, child," Chiron shushed her, and Lily couldn't help but feel smug at not being the only scolded camper. Now, she was sure, the campers were going to be more focused on Clarisse and her missing spear than her cheeky comment.

Silently, the campers watched as the Hellhound's body melted into a dark mass, the transition reminding Lily of melting butter of balsamic vinegar dripping onto the wooden campfire tables. It was if no one knew what to say, what to do. But, at the same time, what was there to say? What was there to do? Camp Half-Blood had been a safety net for all demigods and now, with a hellhound getting inside the camp, the feeling of safety had been torn away. Lily loathed this feeling but, she felt vulnerable.

She had nowhere to go if they decided to close down the camp.

She had no family outside of Annabeth and her half-siblings.

"You're wounded," Annabeth said, turning her (and the rest of the campers) attention to Percy, "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay," Percy protested and Lily rolled her eyes. Honestly, the two of them never could just do what the other said, could they?

"Come on, Perc, please?" Lily said, giving the black-haired boy a soft smile while Annabeth called Chiron's attention to Percy with a 'watch this'.

Lily was expecting Percy to put up a fight, maybe sass her like he did with Annabeth, but it seemed that the poor boy was exhausted from the day's events (and, boy, she was too) for he simply stepped back in the creek. Lily gasped, her eyes focusing on the orb that floated above Percy's head, giving off a pale green glow.

"Look, I-I don't know why," She heard Percy stutter in the background and, just by his voice, could tell that he wasn't feeling as tired as he had been moments before, "I'm sorry…"

"Percy," Annabeth interrupted him, "Um…"

"Annie, I was so, _so_ right. Told you it wouldn't be Zeus," Lily couldn't help but gloat, a smile plastering itself on her face as her eyes flickered to Percy's face, his dark green ones meeting her soft brown ones. With a nod up, Lily tore her eyes away from his and back at the shimmer symbol.

"I wasn't exactly wrong," Annabeth shot back, though her eyes never left the symbol. "Your father… this is really not good."

"What are you talking about? Isn't this what you've been waiting for?" Lily muttered, an 'oof' escaping her lips as Annabeth elbowed her in the gut.

"It is determined," Chiron announced, ignoring the two of them, though she was aware of the sharp glare he sent their way and she responded with a innocent smile. Dropping to her knee, Lily glanced around to make sure that the other campers followed her lead before looking back at Percy.

"Congrats, Perc." Lily softly smiled. She knew that this wasn't going to be easy for him, not if the prophecy Annabeth had been ranting about for years was true. Lily didn't find this fair and knew that it was childish of her to think of the 'fairness' of things. She was a half-blood and rarely anything was fair for them. Percy just happened to be one of the really, _really_ unlucky ones.

"What?" Percy asked her, before looking around with pleading eyes, "My father?"

"Poseidon," Chiron answered as he, too, kneeled, "Earthshaker, Strombringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

* * *

 **dedicated for: my beach 3**


	6. Chapter Five

After getting over the 'shock' of Percy's parent (and, let's be real, who here is really shocked after that bathroom incident), Lily immediately felt as though she had flushed green.

 _Watch out, Elphaba, you have competition_ , she moped, sitting on the porch of her cabin as she watched Percy move into his; which, ironically, was directly across from hers. It hadn't even been a week since the incident, it was the next day, and the envy Lily was feeling was an emotion she wasn't accustomed to. The door creaked behind her, though there was no loud slam that followed since moss coated the door frame, and Lily didn't need to look behind her to see who it was.

"Are you honestly still sulking?" Alvita scoffed, sitting next to her as Lily pulled her knees to her chest, resting her head on them as her glare never faltered from Percy's form.

"No," She bitterly spat, "I'm just watching our new neighbor. Making sure that he doesn't need any help and is settling in nicely."

Alvita barked out a laugh, her dark ringlets bouncing and her mocha-colored eyes sparkling with amusement. Lily thought Alvita was the prettiest daughter of Demeter, not counting Persephone—whom Lily absolutely adored even though she'd never met her. Alvita's father was an immigrant from Jamaica and the girl, herself, spoke with a slight accent that Lily found soothing to listen to. With dark curls that hung freely and skin that reminded Lily of a soft mahogany, there was no way that Alvita couldn't have been considered the prettiest—she was so, exotically beautiful.

And, often to make her opinion known in front of Aphrodite's daughters. It was rather fun to see them get all riled up and offended, especially Drew.

"I don't understand why you're so… upset?" Her voice ended on a slightly high note, and Lily knew that nobody in her cabin really knew why she was upset.

It was too embarrassingly immature for Lily to even want to admit out loud.

"I'm not upset," Lily muttered and her eyes sparkled with mirth as Percy tripped over the steps and slammed into door.

"The poison ivy that's rapidly growing all over the rails says otherwise." At Alvita's words, Lily finally tore her eyes away from Percy's form and looked at the rails, wincing at the poison ivy and oak that was coating the once white rails.

"Sorry about that," Lily said before looking back at the dark cabin in front of her, resting her head on her knees. She didn't bother to make the poison plants retreat or disappear and she could hear Alvita's sigh from beside her.

"Well, since you're not upset, what would be bothering you if you were upset?" Alvita tried as she leaned back and allowed the sun to cover her legs.

Lily hummed, her mind fluttering with thought as she tried to decide if she wanted to tell Alvita the reason for her childish behavior—being that the reason itself was entirely childish. Alvita was the third oldest, just reaching the age of seventeen and having the other two—Katie and James—only a few months to a year older than her. Even though all the siblings got a long relatively well, with the exception of normal sibling arguments and spats, they didn't like showing weakness. None of them did, especially since Demeter's children were already considered 'weak' and 'powerless'.

Groaning, Lily smushed her forehead against her knees, "I'm not the only kid with powers."

She knew her words were muffled; so, when Alvita asked her to repeat herself, she felt her ears burn with embarrassment. Clearing her throat, Lily took a deep breath before opening her mouth and looking at Alvita.

"I'm not the only kid with abilities anymore." She confessed, and Alvita raised her brow.

"Really?" Was the only thing she said, and Lily felt her entire face erupt in a deep red. She knew that it was ridiculous.

"I know it's ridiculous, but what if Chiron stops 'training' me because Percy's got these badass abilities. You saw what he did to the bathroom! And what can I do? Grow some moss with flowers topping it like sprinkles. Yeah," Lily rolled her eyes as sarcasm coated her words, "It's so cool! Let me just grow Percy some strawberry's while he saves the world, yeah? Would you like some grapes with them, Mr. Badass-Power-Boy? Purple ones, you say? Let me get those for you!"

Alvita's deep laughed seemed to cover any other sound that rang throughout the camp, her body shaking with each chuckle. Lily's mood only darkened at her sister's snickering and her shoulders drooped even further. Her shoulder-length hair fell forward, covering her red cheeks from anyone's view and her eyes had darkened quite drastically.

"Don't laugh at me!" Lily exclaimed, her voice shrill and unpleasant as she tried to shush her older sister, "It's not funny. It's a very realistic matter that I happen to find very, convincingly concerning."

"Come on, Lily, you know that's ridiculous." Alvita wiped stray tears from under her eyes and off her cheeks, "If anything, I think you could be considered more threatening than Percy."

Lily's ears perked up at Alvita's confession and she looked towards her sister, her eyes shining with interest and satisfaction, "Yeah, why's that?"

"Well," Alvita began, leaning back and resting her weight on her elbows as her eyes squinted from the sun's glare, "First off, you can _grow_ plants and, as far as I'm concerned, you can't grow water."

"Water's in almost anything, though," Lily pointed out and Alvita's sharp glare was quite to shut her up.

"Yeah, but I don't think Percy's that bright of a kid right now. Which leads me to my second point, you _are_ more advanced than him. Thirdly, di immortales, your parents are so different from his." She paused, pursing her lips and looking curiously at Percy's cabin, "But, don't forget this: you guys will need each other in battle. Plants can't flourish without water and, where there are plants, there is water."

~8~

A solid week had passed since Lily's conversation with Alvita and, even though she wasn't technically avoiding Percy, she wasn't exactly going out of her way to make him feel comfortable. Maybe it was the tight smile that she would shoot his direction when their eyes met, maybe it was the sharp nod at his greeting—okay, yeah, she got it. She was being a bitch.

"Lils," Lily barely had time to prepare herself before Annabeth's body collided with hers and enveloped her in a tight hug, "It's true! We're going! We're going on a quest!"

"What?" Lily dazedly asked, making a 'shooing' motion with her hand and watching the Bellflowers untangled themselves from her legs. Annabeth was happily chatting away about the quest and how they had to pack, plus what they had to pack, but Lily was still stuck on the fact that they were going, "What's going on?"

Annabeth muttered something along the lines of 'I swear you're as slow as Percy' before clearing her throat and pulling away from her, her grey eyes absolutely shining with excitement. Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, trailing the tip of her finger over the back of her earring, and Annabeth opened her mouth.

"I was listening in on Chiron's and Percy's conversation," _At least she's being honest_ , Lily mused, "And, Lily, I was right! Percy is 'The One'. Chiron's sending him on a quest to get back Zeus's lightning bolt—"

"Wait, it was stolen?" Lily interrupted, her eyes widening at the news and she felt her heartrate pick up at the news. Talk about bad luck, not only had Percy been claimed as Poseidon's kid, but now Zeus's lightning bolt had been stolen… _oof._

"Yeah, but we can talk about that later. Anyway, I overheard and, of course, told him that you and I would be joining. And Chiron didn't interject-"

"Did he have time to?" Lily scoffed, a sharp 'ouch' escaping her lips as Annabeth punched her arm.

"Stop interrupting me," She snapped, and Lily only rubbed her sore arm in response, "But, yes, he did and he didn't. But, get packing, Lils. We're leaving soon and I know that you're awfully forgetful when it comes to packing."

"It was one time and it was a pair of socks," Lily shot back as the two of them turned around and headed towards her cabin. There was no doubt in her mind that Annabeth was conveniently already packed and would want to 'assist' Lily in packing—more so to make sure that she didn't forget anything.

"It was all your socks, Lils, and you got horrible blisters that you wouldn't shut up about."

"They hurt!" Lily exclaimed, shuddering as she remembered how bloody her feet had been by the time she had gotten back to her cabin. The blisters had even gotten infected from all the rain that week and she had to go Will to get them fixed. Who knew that a weekend trip to find the new Demeter kid (Emilie, at the time) could go so wrong?

"Which is why I'll be helping you pack," Annabeth chirped, looping her arm through Lily's and dragging her off. Lily didn't bother to protest, knowing her attempts would be futile, and decided to look around as Annabeth blabbered on.

This could be the last time seeing the camp, who knew?

* * *

 **Thanks for being so patient and please, please review! Hope this double update makes up for me being gone for so long.**


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